Ethiopia’s Former President Girma Woldegiorgis Dies

Addis Ababa Decembre15/2018 Girma Woldegiorgis who served for two consecutive terms as president of Ethiopia has passed away last night. Girma, who was elected to the Ethiopian parliament in 2000, has served the Horn African nation as president between 2001 and 2013. Born in 1924, Girma served his country in various posts since the imperial period. Girma graduated from the Genet Military School in Holeta, Ethiopia, as a sublieutenant in 1944. He studied air-traffic management and control in Sweden and Canada as a trainee in the Ethiopian air force and became an instructor in air navigation and flight control in Ethiopia in 1948. He was appointed head of civil aviation in the federated government of Eritrea in 1955 and director-general of Ethiopian civil aviation in 1958. Girma was director-general of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Planning between 1958 and 59. In 1961, he was elected to the lower house of the Ethiopian parliament, where he served as president for three consecutive years. Throughout his career Girma held a number of nongovernmental positions, including board member of the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and president of the Eritrean branch of the Ethiopian Red Cross. In 1991 he founded an environmental organization called Lem Ethiopia. Girma is survived by five children.